contriving
contriving is the present participle and gerund of contrive.
Meaning of contrive
Verb
contrive (third-person singular simple present contrives, present participle contriving, simple past and past participle contrived)
- To invent by an exercise of ingeniosity; to devise
- […]I cannot bear the idea of two young women traveling post by themselves. It is highly improper. You must contrive to send somebody.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
- To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation.
- To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light.
- To spend (time, or a period).
Noun
contriving (plural contrivings)
- The act of one who contrives.
- Do we really want all those strivings and contrivings—all those thoughts and assumptions someone has cleverly etched into the hardware and software we are using—to remain invisible?2007, Steve Talbott, Devices of the Soul, page 192
Forms of contriving
| plural | contrivings |
|---|
Questions about contriving
- What does contriving mean?
- Contriving means the act of one who contrives.
- What is contriving the present participle and gerund of?
- Contriving is the present participle and gerund of contrive.
- What part of speech is contriving?
- Contriving is a noun.
- What is the plural of contriving?
- The plural of contriving is contrivings.
Words near contriving in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contriving (page history and authors); contrive (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “contriving.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contriving. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.